The Dewey Beach Police Department recently relaunched its part-time motorcycle unit with two fully electric Zero motorcycles.
The two bikes, a Zero DSRX and used Zero DSR, were purchased with grant funding from the Delaware Criminal Justice Council and a donation from the Dewey Business Partnership.
“As a part-time unit, it’s going to be super beneficial for us, and we’re excited to have it,” said DBPD Sgt. Colin Schmidt.
The department used to have a motorcycle program, but it was underutilized and unnecessary, Schmidt said. Now, with traffic and events in town all year long, the program is much more practical.
Aside from traffic control assignments, and escorting people and vehicles during town events, the motorcycles give officers more versatility and flexibility in their patrolling. They’re expected to help greatly reduce police response times, especially in the summer when traffic is heavy.
“They get in places that our cars don’t get, like through parking lots, and when it’s gridlock traffic, it’s a lot easier and significantly faster to take a motorcycle and cautiously ride up the shoulder than it is to take a patrol car down the middle of the highway and have everybody move,” said PFC Colby Buchert.
The electric aspect also makes the bikes much quieter and more environmentally friendly.
After spending eight hours on one of the bikes, Buchert said its battery was still at about 70%, with over 100 miles of range. Since Dewey is such a small town, the bikes would have no problem lasting a full 12-hour shift, he said.
The unit officially relaunched St. Patrick’s Day weekend and has been met with excitement from Dewey residents.
“We’ve already gotten a lot of really positive reactions from people in the town,” Buchert said. “People see us and are like, ‘When did you guys get that? That’s really cool,’ and then you tell them they’re electric, and they just get that much more excited about it.”
He and Schmidt are both avid motorcycle riders in their free time and are eager to merge that passion with their work.
In early March, they completed an intense, weeklong police motorcycle training program hosted by the University of Delaware Police Department. As of now, they’re the only two Dewey officers trained, but they hope to have two more trained by summer 2026.
The officers spent several weeks outfitting the new bike with the proper police equipment, which was no easy task given that Zero motorcycles, especially the new DSRX model, are relatively new to the police world, particularly to departments on the East Coast. That meant the officers had to figure out the setup on their own without an exact model or point of reference.
Since Zero hasn’t yet developed its own complete collection of patrol technology, the officers had to order parts from a hodgepodge of brands such as BMW and Harley-Davidson. They also installed an extra top case containing a computer and printer, which is a feature they haven’t yet seen other Delaware police departments implement, at least with this Zero model.
The officers emphasized that the motorcycles are not meant to fully replace the department’s patrol cars and will only be used when at least one other officer is also on duty in a car or truck. They will not be used in inclement weather or to transport people.
“It’s fascinating to see how far some of these electric vehicles have come to be able to be used in our capacity as police,” Buchert said.
